Marine

Citation

(2004), "Marine", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 13 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2004.07313aac.002

Marine

Marine

10 July 2003 – Chandpur, Bangladesh

Heavy rain and swift currents forced Bangladesh to suspend a search today for 400 people missing and feared dead after ferry Nasrin-2 capsized. "There is little hope of resuming the search today as it is still raining heavily, with an occasional blast of wind", said an official supervising the rescue at Chandpur, some 105 miles south-east of the capital, Dhaka. "Until suspended for the rainstorm, the efforts had been low-key, with navy divers unable to lay an anchor to begin an intensive search", added the official. District administrator Abdur Rab Hawlader said intermittent rain spells made an effective search impossible. "There is no change in operational conditions as darkness began to cover the area", he said. "A further search will be undertaken next morning." The over-loaded ferry nose-dived into the turbulent Meghna river near the town of Chandpur around midnight on Tuesday (9 July), while many of its passengers were asleep after leaving Dhaka. It sank at a spot notorious for converging currents that create a whirlpool effect, as it is at the confluence of three rivers -- the Meghna, the Padma and the Dakatia. Navy divers failed today to reach the ferry, which is believed to be under 200ft of water and may have been dragged downstream by strong currents. A navy official said divers scanned the river bed with metal detectors before rain drove them to shore. Three bodies were found and one injured passenger died in hospital yesterday. Another body was pulled from the water today and two seen floating down the river could not be retrieved due to the strong currents, local reporters said. Police and officials said about 200 people were rescued by fishing boats or managed to struggle to shore. The number of passengers on board was not known and may never be, since ferry operators rarely keep full passenger lists.

12 July 2002 – Bangladesh today deployed sonar equipment to search for ferry Nasrin-2, which was sucked into a whirlpool and sank three days ago, killing more than 400 people. "Now we have launched a vigorous search for the ferry after navy rescue vessel Shaibal arrived on the scene", Navy Lieutenant-Commander Mahbubur Rashid said today. "The vessel has very sophisticated sonar capabilities and should be able to locate the ferry", he said. Nasrin-2, licensed to carry only 300 people, had more than 600 on board when it sank in the Meghna River near the town of Chandpur, 170km south-east of the capital Dhaka. Only about 200 people managed to reach the shore or were rescued by fishing vessels, police and witnesses said. The ferry was believed to have sunk in 60m of water. Heavy monsoon rains and strong winds have hampered the search at the disaster site - where three rivers come together to create deadly whirlpools when the waters are high. Rescuers and villagers have retrieved nearly 60 bodies in the past two days from the Meghna River, which flows into the Bay of Bengal through Chandpur, where the ferry sank. More than 300 people are still missing. Most of the bodies found so far were decomposed, some beyond identification, witnesses said. They said villagers had seen more bodies floating down the fiercely flowing Meghna River along its course toward the Bay of Bengal, but could not reach them. If the ferry was found, divers would seek to reach it to attach lines so that it could be lifted, Rashid said.

13 July 2003 – Rescuers have now recovered 150 bodies from Bangladesh's turbulent Meghna River where overcrowded ferry Nasrin-2 sank last week with the loss of more than 400 lives, police and witnesses said today. Navy divers using sonar equipment continued their search for the vessel, which was sucked into a whirlpool and sank late on Tuesday(8 July). While some bodies may still be trapped inside the submerged hull, rescuers believed many could have been swept by strong currents further down the river's course to the Bay of Bengal. Of those retrieved so far, many were badly decomposed and some had had to be buried without identification. Heavy monsoon rains and strong winds have hampered the search at the disaster site, where three rivers come together to create deadly whirlpools when the waters are high. The painstaking effort to locate the ferry is being led by navy rescue vessel Shaibal, which is equipped with sonar devices. Navy Lieutenant- Commander Mahbubur Rashid said yesterday that, if the ferry were found, divers would try to attach lines so that it could be lifted. Shipping Minister Akbar Hossain said yesterday that all unregistered or unfit ferries would be seized and officials who issued licences to such vessels punished.

15 July 2003 – The ill-fated ferry Nasrin-2 which capsized six days ago was still untraced today even as the official death toll rose to 164 with 86 more bodies being found, and over 360 people were still missing. Efforts to spot and salvage the vessel, which went down with almost 800 people on board, seem to fade as a strong current and heavy downpour prevented the divers going beyond 50ft deep. Fresh salvage work began this morning. At least 12 vessels -- nine from BIWTA, two from Bangladesh Navy and one from Bangladesh Coast Guard – took part in the salvage work. Bangladesh Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia yesterday directed the administration to adopt stringent measures to prevent ferry accidents, as some 140 officials and employees were withdrawn from Sadarghat, the biggest ferry terminal in the country.

15 July 2003 – Bangladesh navy experts used sonar to find the remains of ferry Nasrin-2 nearly half a mile from where it sank in a huge river whirlpool last week, killing more than 400 people. "The ferry has been located 120ft under water, about 300yd away from the site of the sinking", Navy Lieutenant-Commander Mahbubur Rashid said. "It has been partly buried under mounds of sand." Salvage officials said rain and wind still hampered operations, but some 177 bodies had been pulled from the Meghna River. "Efforts to salvage the vessel will continue for a few more days", said a government official in Chandpur district, where the vessel sank.

21 July 2003 – Bangladesh Shipping Ministry has abandoned salvage operations of the sunken ferry Nasrin-2 that capsized with about 800 passengers and goods on 8 July at the confluence of the mighty rivers Padma, Meghna and Dakatia, due to strong current, whirlpool and depth of the river's confluence, according to shipping industry sources. About 200 bodies have so far been found floating in the river while the rest are believed to be stuck up in the hull. The official account, however, said 104 bodies, including 75 from Bhola, 13 from Barisal, 12 from Chandpur and four from Luxmipur, were recovered and 195 remained missing.

23 July 2002 – Greece

The Shipping Accidents Investigation Council (ASNA) has ruled that officers and crew members of passenger ro/ro Express Samina that sank in the Aegean three years ago killing 80 people are guilty of charges of extreme negligence. The vessel struck rocks as it approached the island of Paros on the night of26 September 2000, took on water and sank within half an hour. The council, whose members met last Thursday (17 July), ruled that the crew was disorganized and inadequately trained to deal with emergencies. However, in contrast to a recent Aegean appeals court ruling, the majority of the council did not attribute responsibility to representatives of the owners, Minoan Flying Dolphins, now renamed Hellas Flying Dolphins. According to sources, the ASNA president disagreed with the other four members on this point. ASNA found that First Mate Anastasios Psychoyios, who was on bridge duty at the time of the accident, had not been in control of the vessel in accordance with regulations. It found that the captain, Vassilis Yiannakis, had not reacted fast enough based on his knowledge and experience of the specific vessel, after becoming aware of the situation. It also found him responsible for not ensuring that the crew were trained in dealing with orders to abandon ship. Second mate Giorgos Triantafyllou was found guilty of negligence by failing to ensure that the flood control doors were secured before the vessel sailed and for not making lifesaving gear available in time. Also according to ASNA, first engineer Gerasimos Skiadaresis should have isolated the main engine-room as soon as he realized what had happened and informed the bridge. The judicial investigation into the sinking is separate.

31 August 2003 – Barents Sea

A Russian nuclear submarine sank in a storm in the Barents Sea early yesterday and nine of its ten crew members are feared dead, the Defence Ministry said. The Defence Ministry said one sailor was rescued and the bodies of two others were found, but seven others still remain missing. Russia's Itar-Tass news agency quoted Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov as saying that there were no chances of survivors since the K-159 submarine sank with the hatch open. The 40-year-old submarine, which had been decommissioned in 1989, was being towed to a dock for scrapping at the port of Polyarny when it sank about 5.5km off Kildin Island in the Barents Sea at about 04.00, Moscow time. According to the Russian Defence Ministry, the vessel's two nuclear reactors were not operating at the time, and it did not carry any weapons such as missiles. The ministry said it had not confirmed any radiation leaks. A senior Russian navy official also vowed to have the vessel raised to prevent future radiation leaks. Earlier, Russian naval sources said the submarine had been towed on four pontoons, which were ripped off the sub in the rough seas, and this is believed to have caused the vessel to lose its balance and sink to a water depth of about 170m.

31 August 2003 – Russia's defence minister says negligence may be to blame for the sinking of a nuclear submarine that left nine seamen dead. "There were definitely elements of this frivolous Russian reliance on chance, that everything will work out", The Associated Press quoted Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov as saying while aboard a cruiser monitoring search operations. "This confirms yet again the simple truth that all instructions and orders must be taken seriously." Two bodies have been recovered from the sea, but only one man survived the sinking. Officials say the remaining seven corpses are likely to be inside the sunken sub. Ivanov ordered a halt on the towing of decommissioned nuclear subs while the incident is probed. Ivanov, who called for a day of mourning in the Northern Fleet, said they had abandoned all hope of finding alive the seven submariners still missing. The vessel broke away from four large floating hulls as it was being transferred to a plant where the reactor and any remaining nuclear fuel were to be removed, the Defence Ministry said. The sub's twin nuclear reactors, which normally power the K159, had been deactivated. Ivanov told the Interfax news agency that technical procedures for towing submarines had been violated and backed a decision to dismiss the captain in charge of transporting thesubmarine to a scrap yard. The captain, Sergei Zhemchuzhov, had ordered the trip to begin despite a poor weather forecast, officials said. Sources in the chief military prosecutor's office told Interfax that some Navy officials have already been charged with violating navigation rules that led to the sinking. A senior Russian minister said a faulty torpedo was to blame. Interfax quoted a retired admiral as saying the sunken sub poses no ecological threat, since its reactors' active zones had been removed and thick metal walls contain the slight amount of radioactivity left. Ivanov said that radiation levels in the area of the Barents Sea where the submarine went down were normal. However, environmentalists suggested that the danger of contaminating the fish-rich area was higher than officials portrayed.